A (Very) Food-a-licious Blog

Say Moo, Say Me (say gluten free)!

Whenever I feel like taking a nice drive out to the middle of nowhere (and retriving the wedding cake topper from the garage of the farm where we got married three years ago) I tend to find myself driving up Interstate 83 to the cute little town of Freeland, Md. If I’m going to go that far I might as well have a place to stop and gorge myself for a good half hour. Good thing I found such a place (thanks to my cousin and partner in gluten free gluttony, Holly – who I miss, by the way. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge)!

Hopeful Foodie’s Review Number Two:

The Red Cafe

Cows. Rolling hills. Farmland. Ah, Northern Baltimore County. When you think of the previous bits of scenery and picture them in your mind, the last things you expect to hear next are the words “allergy-friendly environment” much less “gluten-free (optional) café.” But this is Baltimore, people – where anything can happen (and usually does in the most unlikely places).

My newest unlikely place is most truly in the middle of nowhere. Think Middletown Road – where there are more horses than people and you’re more likely to see a field of growing (insert your local crop here) than the newest housing development. Out here, plunked down in a little spot of freshly mown grass surrounding a tiny concrete pad is The Red Café – home of what I call the best “slap your mama cheese steak” south of the PA line and the only place I know of that far north that will serve it to you gluten free.

Yes, that’s right. Gluten free. Sans the very wheat that is practically growing across the next field and boy, people, is it good! I had my first little adventure here about a year ago with my cousin who gushed over the freshly-made allergy-friendly sub rolls. I decided to bring my husband with me this time to finally meet the mastermind behind the counter, Dawn Wilson, and chat with her between bites of tender beefy goodness.

Dawn and her family have been running The Red Café for about 10 years now (minus one year that she was too sick with severe IBS to step into the kitchen). The inspirations behind the allergy-free options were ones she drew from her own personal experiences in the food department. After years of symptoms and no solid diagnosis, the prescription was an Elimination Diet – basically a total cutout of the 5 main food allergens (dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, nuts, plus corn and rice) for a total of 4-6 weeks followed by the slow reintroduction of said foods. In realizing her trigger foods, Dawn decided that if she was going through this, then others were as well. Thus the start of the revolving menu – and what a joy it is!

Some of the specialty dishes you can order on any given Thursday through Saturday when The Red Café is open aren’t really specialties at all, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t special in the least. For instance, Dawn makes homemade buckwheat pancakes that she uses as wraps for almost any sub and sandwich on the menu and one of every three soups is always vegan and gluten free. If you call ahead, she’ll even whip up a gluten-free desert for you and your party (her cheesecakes, I was told, are the gem of the shop). Of course, there is always pizza (and there aren’t too many places around that make them totally homemade like Dawn does). Like she says, “Can you imagine being five and never being able to have a pizza?” Feggitaboudit.

The motherload, however, are the cheese steaks. Sure, you can get almost any sub in the shop served on a wheat-less roll, but really? Give me the beef! Dawn’s freshly baked gluten-free sub roll is more like a hot-out-of-the-oven slab of Italian focaccia. You can not only smell the herbs (basil, oregano, and rosemary are my guesses) wafting from the crusty surface, but actually see them, too. It’s not overly-crumbly, either, like some half-baked attempts at wheat-free bread. The cut of steak used is a superb choice and goes nicely with either the roll, or my choice, the whole wheat wrap, which was toasted to an almost toothy texture that had me wailing “Al Dente!” to any stray farmer who happened to stumble in. If that wasn’t enough, the lettuce and tomato wedged in this culinary creation were at the peak of freshness.

After talking each other’s ears off for way over 2 hours (including some very colorful topics brought up by Dawn’s hilarious mother, Pat), ranting about the American food culture and writing down more contact emails than I have in a long time, we finally forced our satisfyingly bloated selves out the door and back into Rural Town, USA. The Red Café is more than worth the drive -the atmosphere being so laid back and friendly and of course, the menu which has a little bit of allergy-friendly goodness in a very unlikely place.